Gennaro Lombardi

{{Short description|American businessman}}

File:Lombardi-pizza.jpg Pizza at 32 Spring Street in Little Italy, Manhattan]]

Gennaro Lombardi (August 6, 1887–November 24, 1958) was an Italian immigrant who moved to the United States in 1904.{{cite web |last1=Regas |first1=Peter |title=Who was Gennaro Lombardi? |url=https://pizzahistorybook.com/2019/02/05/who-was-gennaro-lombardi/ |website=pizzahistorybook.com |access-date=10 February 2025 |language=en |date=5 February 2019}} He has sometimes been credited for opening the first pizzeria in the United States, Lombardi's, at 53½ Spring Street. However, later research has shown both that he did not open the restaurant and that other New York pizzerias preceded.{{cite web |last1=Regas |first1=Peter |title=Who Established the Famous Pizzeria at 53 Spring Street? |url=https://pizzahistorybook.com/2021/09/30/who-owned-the-pizzeria-at-53-spring-street/ |website=pizzahistorybook.com |access-date=10 February 2025 |language=en |date=30 September 2021}}{{Cite web| title = New York Pizza, the Real Thing, Makes a Comeback| last = Asimov | first = Eric| work = New York Times| date = 10 June 1998| accessdate = 2015-09-12| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/10/dining/new-york-pizza-the-real-thing-makes-a-comeback.html}}{{Cite web| title = Where burgers, fried Twinkies and Fat Darrells began| first = Streeter | last = Seidell | work = CNN| date = 2007-10-15| accessdate = 2015-09-12| url = http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/wayoflife/10/11/food.birth/}}

The traditional story holds that Lombardi opened a small grocery store in New York City's Little Italy. An employee of his, fellow Italian immigrant Antonio Totonno Pero, began making pizza for the store to sell. Their pizza became so popular that Lombardi opened the first U.S. pizzeria in 1905, naming it simply Lombardi's.{{Cite web| title = 104 Years of Pizza in New York| work = NYMag| date = 2009-07-13| accessdate = 2015-09-12| url = http://nymag.com/restaurants/cheapeats/2009/57894/}}{{Cite web| title = A Slice of History: Pizza Through the Ages| first = Gayle | last = Turim | work = HISTORY.com| date = 2012-07-27| accessdate = 2015-09-12| url = http://www.history.com/news/hungry-history/a-slice-of-history-pizza-through-the-ages}} Although Lombardi was influenced by the pies of Naples, he was forced to adapt pizza to Americans. The wood-fired ovens and mozzarella di bufala were substituted with coal powered ovens and fior di latte (made from cow's milk), beginning the evolution of the American pie.{{cite book |last=Reinhart |first=Peter |title=American Pie: My Search for the Perfect Pizza |location=Berkeley |publisher=Ten Speed Press |year=2003 |isbn=1-58008-422-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/americanpiemysea00rein }} In 1924, Totonno left Lombardi's and followed the expanding New York City Subway lines to Coney Island, where he opened Totonno's.

Later research has cast suspicion on elements of that narrative. Gennaro Lombardi came to the United States for the first time in November 1904 at age 17, classified as a laborer. If he became involved with the pizzeria at 53½ Spring Street in 1905, it was as an employee, not as an owner. Research suggests Filippo Milone opened the pizzeria, as well as two others documented before 1905.{{cite news |last1=Bruns |first1=Kendall |title=Lost Forefathers of Pizza in America Discovered |url=https://uspizzamuseum.com/2019/02/05/lost-forefathers-of-pizza-in-america-discovered/ |access-date=9 February 2019 |publisher=US Pizza Museum |date=February 5, 2019|archive-date=February 6, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190206003431/https://uspizzamuseum.com/2019/02/05/lost-forefathers-of-pizza-in-america-discovered/|url-status=live}}Gennaro Lombardi documents at {{cite web|url=https://pizzahistorybook.com/2019/02/05/who-was-gennaro-lombardi/|title=Who was Gennaro Lombardi?|publisher= PizzaHistoryBook.com|first=Peter W. |last=Regas|date=February 5, 2019|archive-date=February 10, 2019|archive-url=https://archive.today/20190210161930/https://pizzahistorybook.com/2019/02/05/who-was-gennaro-lombardi/|url-status=live}} Milone also opened the pizzeria that would become John's of Bleecker Street in 1915.{{cite web |last1=Bruns |first1=Kendall |title=Lost Forefathers of Pizza in America Discovered |url=https://uspizzamuseum.com/2019/02/05/lost-forefathers-of-pizza-in-america-discovered/ |website=U.S. Pizza Museum |access-date=10 February 2025 |language=en |date=5 February 2019}}

New York city directories also list a different pizzeria (Giovanni Albano’s at 59½ Mulberry St.) already open in 1894. As for the restaurant commonly named Lombardi's, records show it was being operated by Giovanni Santillo as "Antica Pizzeria Napoletana" several months before Lombardi arrived in the United States. Lombardi did own the pizzeria briefly in 1908 and again permanently after 1918; the name "Lombardi’s Restaurant" dates only to 1939.